Customer Reviews

Yamaha NS-SP1600 5.1-Channel Surround Speaker System (Black)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I recently bought these speakers ($99 from Amazon/Etronics) to pair up with the Sony STR-DG600 A/V receiver. I was extremely skeptical of how well these speakers would actually perform at this price range but was completely blown away by everything.

The shape and design of the speakers and subwoofer will match pretty much any color scheme you may simply because it's not two-toned. The product itself feels to be of a very good build quality and not some cheap wooden toy. The subwoofer looks kinda small but trust me, don't let the size fool you because the subwoofer can hit hard and accurately.

The room the speaker set is used in is about 20 X 18 so it's not too big but not that small either. The bass is unbelievably strong. The subwoofer is probably too powerful for most listening modes. I first watched movies with the sub level set to 50% but found that to be way too high because it would have the whole room shaking from the sheer thunderous power it outputs. I have since turned the sub power down to 25% and that seems to be the sweet spot for movies, music and games without being over bearing. The sound from the center channel is absolutely spectacular but hearing audio from the other 4 satellites in addition to the center channel is where your ears are in for a real treat. It's really hard to put in words and explain how crystal clear this system sounds. In no way am I an audiophile but I've listened to high-end, mid-range, and low-end speaker sets and I would say that the performance of these speakers would rank a step above mid-range speakers. Now I do have one recommendation and that recommendation is that you replace the included speaker wire with higher gauge wiring. It comes with speaker wire that seems to be like 22 gauge. In my opinion speakers are best heard with 16 gauge wiring or thicker. I replaced the wiring with 16-gauge Monster Cable. I tested the audio with both the stock wiring as well as the Monster Cables and I can honestly say that it made a nice improvement over the stock wiring but that improvement was only really noticed in movies. The improvement in music was only slightly better with thicker gauge wiring but that may be because the audio from the music I was playing was recorded at a much lower bit rate than what is used in movies. Either way I recommend replacing the speaker cables right off the bat. The same applies to the supplied subwoofer cable. Their subwoofer cable isn't the best so I replaced that one as well with a Monster Cable subwoofer interconnect cable. I didn't even bother connecting the original one.

Anyway, these are probably the BEST 5.1 surround sound speakers you will find at this price. I am overly impressed with my purchase and just hope I don't run into any quality issues down the line. Some Best Buy stores have this speaker set available as a demo so if you have the opportunity then listen to them for yourself.

I've used this speaker set for a couple of days and have been completely blown away. I was looking to build a decent home theater for enjoying my new HDTV and for playing movies but had a limited budget (under 300). I considered HTIB options including Yamaha YHT 270 - Onkyo S590. I did end up buying Onkyo only to return it at cause it had a problem of hiss at higher volume and lame bass response (passive sub). Yamaha YHT270 also suffered from the same shortcoming so I decided to go for separates and boy was I right!! I got the Pioneer VSX516-K from CircuitC for 170 and the NS-SP 1600 5.1 speaker set from Amazon for 130 - perfect fit for my budget!!
Now for the review of the speakers themselves:
**At this price the Subwoofer that ships with this set is a steal - it hits hard and has enough power to rock my 18x20 entertainment room.
**The satellites are small - discrete well made and look nice.
**The lows on this set are amazing - crystal clear and crisp - the mids are a bit lacking and the sub does an excellent job picking them up.
**The center channel is great and the dialog enhancement mode on my receiver drove the center channel to perfection.
**I cant say enough about the sub so I have to mention that they are amazing.
**The speakers provide enough dynamic range to frighten my wife while watching Shrek (The dragon scene) - imagine that!!!
**Another thing to note about these speakers is I drove them all the way up to the maximum that my receiver can drive while playing Hendrix and there was no roll off or clipping - amazing isn't it.

Another note - the free shipping from Amazon was great - I actually got the shipment and day before the earliest predicted delivery date.
I would blindly recommend this speaker set for anyone putting together a decent starter rig. Another advantage with this system is when I upgrade - my receiver is already 7.1 channel so I can get some rocking floor standing fronts and the satellites can go in the back. Yamaha's got a new fan!!!

These are the best you will find for the price, bar none. I looked at many different sets of home theater speakers, but Yamaha NS-SP1600 were very easy to install and the sound they give with some of my favorite movies is like I am in a theater. Now I don't have to spend so much to get the movie experience I can now stay home. Yamaha does it again.

The room I installed them in is about 20 x 30 feet with an eight and a half foot ceiling. I am using a KLH 525-II center speaker (Amazon/Target)and moved the Yamaha HTIB center speaker to the rear, and the front speakers are a newly bought (also from Amazon) Bic Venturi bookshelf pair. I probably made some sort of audio faux pas by hooking the speakers to a mid-level A/V receiver: the Yamaha RX-V659. Bought a spool of speaker wire (12 gauge) from Lowe's - I avoided buying the Monster cable.

I really am surprised by how great these little speakers sound for the price. I listen to a lot of classical music and electronica, and, assuming the Bic Venturis 'warm up' in a few weeks, the listening experience should be even better than it is now. I'm NOT an audiophile, so I can't say anything technical; just that listening to Prince's Sign O'the Times on Tivo and watching Saving Private Ryan on DVD sounds as good as my father's $2000 bose surround set-up.

If the Yamaha speakers hold up over time, they've got a fan for life.

The size of these speakers and the size of the price tag are very deceptive. These little guys provide super surround for my home theater. I don't think you're likely to find anything else this good in this price range.

I wasn't expecting much for the $$ when I ordered these. But I was pleasantly surprised when I hooked them up. They sound great in the 16x12 room I have. The sub woofer is a louder than you would expect from it's small size and 6.5" woofer. This is a great system for small/mid sized rooms.

This is just what i need. I have a small (13x16) family room. This was the perfect speakers for my needs. At first i was worried...like any man i cranked the base to its highest setting hooked it up to my pioneer 516...turned on the reciever and was ready to blown away. After i replaced my windows i decided to turn it down to 5 (a setting that won't cause heart arrhythmia) After i tweaked the system they sound great...and for $100 i could not ask for more

Well, I bought this because this is was the cheapest 6ohm 5.1 system that I could find (to pair it with the 6ohm kenwood VRS-N8100 receiver). I did not except so much performance for just over 100 dollars. The powered sub is awesome. All this with the provided speaker wires (I'm not even sure what gauge they are). I bought 16-guage monster cable speaker wires, but returned them back since I'm getting more than expected performance even without it.

Hard to believe you can get this kind of sound for less than two-hundred bucks. I can't say anything bad about this product. I can not compare it to others, except for the large speaker system that it replaced (full size Infinity's that rotted apart.)
Don't feel you have to spend 100 to 200 dollars more to get better sound, you will be dissapointed. Remember, they can only sound as good as the amp you are going to power them with. Listening to them at a local retailer, the sound was clearly better with a good amp v.s. a bargain basement amp.
Paired with the Yamaha RX-V461BL 500 Watt 5.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver, the system sounds great, and much better than the Yamaha amp/speaker combo units.

From the reviews online, I expected more from this system. I was scared when I saw how tiny the satellite speakers were, but I kept hearing the reviews in back of my mind. I appreciated the included spool of speaker wire, but I was hoping for a color-coded system. Installation and wall mounting is simple enough, but the true test is powered on... The system does a fair job with movies, but music is not very clean through the subwoofer at all. Overall, this feels cheap compared to others I've heard. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this system to others, and would recommend the low-end Polk set or an Onkyo system.